The Game Census
Plains of Pain cover art

Plains of Pain

Cobra Byte Digital · 2023-02-17

Steam

ActionAdventureIndieMassively MultiplayerRPGSimulationEarly Access

Modes: Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative, Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO)

Releases: Feb 17, 2023 (PC (Microsoft Windows))

Enter a living post-apocalyptic sandbox where the world doesn't wait for you. Build, craft, trade, earn the trust of factions, and forge your own path through a brutal procedural wasteland.

84
playing now
83%
positive of 922 reviews
Very Positive
steam rating
50,000–100,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
gold
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
$19.99
steam price (US)

84 players in-game as of 2026-08-30 08:00 UTC (census sample)

Humanity stood at the peak of technological achievement when it all went wrong. For reasons no one could explain, the sun began unleashing colossal solar flares—so powerful they vaporized Mercury and Venus within days. Earth was next. The heat rose, fast and merciless. Panic spread like wildfire. The world’s leaders didn’t save anyone. They saved themselves. In a secret evacuation project, the powerful and the wealthy abandoned Earth, leaving the rest behind to face the inferno. Civilization cracked, then crumbled. What was once a thriving world fragmented into chaos and dust. The land is no(Storyline via IGDB)

Health check

Healthy
  • · 84 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 410 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~51/week).
  • · Review velocity up 118% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 36% of 10,862 Action games in the census by review count.
Estimated sales: 18k–41k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 922 total reviews — how this is computed.

All-time low: $9.59 at Steam (2023-02-17)via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $19.99 · on sale 10 of 21 observed days (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
656520232026Week of 2023-02-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 38 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 27 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 26 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 26 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 35 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 65 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 20 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 41 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 30 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 26 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 55 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 24 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 45 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 2 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

105242026-08-11 23:00 — 54 players2026-08-12 15:00 — 59 players2026-08-13 07:00 — 38 players2026-08-13 22:00 — 43 players2026-08-14 14:00 — 54 players2026-08-15 03:00 — 38 players2026-08-15 18:00 — 72 players2026-08-16 10:00 — 63 players2026-08-17 02:00 — 50 players2026-08-17 18:00 — 65 players2026-08-18 10:00 — 37 players2026-08-19 02:00 — 34 players2026-08-19 17:00 — 47 players2026-08-20 09:00 — 27 players2026-08-21 01:00 — 29 players2026-08-21 17:00 — 44 players2026-08-22 08:00 — 36 players2026-08-23 00:00 — 40 players2026-08-23 16:00 — 68 players2026-08-24 08:00 — 24 players2026-08-25 00:00 — 34 players2026-08-25 16:00 — 36 players2026-08-26 08:00 — 26 players2026-08-27 00:00 — 30 players2026-08-27 16:00 — 35 players2026-08-28 08:00 — 40 players2026-08-29 00:00 — 58 players2026-08-29 16:00 — 105 players2026-08-30 08:00 — 84 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).

Price history

$19.99$9.592023-02-172026-08-012023-02-17 — best price $9.592023-08-01 — best price $11.192023-11-21 — best price $10.392023-12-22 — best price $9.592024-03-14 — best price $11.192024-05-13 — best price $9.592024-06-27 — best price $10.392024-10-10 — best price $13.592024-11-27 — best price $11.192024-12-19 — best price $11.992025-01-20 — best price $19.992025-03-20 — best price $19.992025-05-24 — best price $19.992025-07-10 — best price $19.992025-09-01 — best price $19.992025-10-06 — best price $19.992025-11-03 — best price $19.992025-12-08 — best price $19.992026-01-05 — best price $19.992026-02-16 — best price $19.992026-03-26 — best price $19.992026-04-26 — best price $19.992026-06-07 — best price $19.992026-07-09 — best price $19.992026-08-01 — best price $19.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Completion

4
achievements tracked
71.1%
earned "Born in the Dust"
10.4%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsSingle-playerMulti-playerPvPOnline PvPLAN PvPCo-opOnline Co-opLAN Co-opSteam AchievementsSteam Trading Cards

12 supported languages: English, Czech, Spanish - Spain, Portuguese - Brazil, German, French, Ukrainian, Korean, Polish, Japanese, Russian, Simplified Chinese

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Steam (Steam)1691%4

Players tracked by Exophase (achievement/trophy trackers) — a sample of the player base, not total sales.

Player tags

PvEPvPLootActionSandboxShooterCraftingSurvivalOpen WorldExploration

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Recent updates

Players also track

Savage LandsRising WorldOmensight: Definitive EditionCitadel: Forged with FireForce of NatureDude SimulatorEternity: The Last UnicornTorchlight III

Similarity via IGDB.

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